Incumbent Ann Lininger retained her seat for Clackamas County Commissioner Position 3, and incumbent Bob Austin was narrowly hanging on to his seat according to partial returns.

Austin is leading challenger Paul Savas, a small business owner, by roughly 51 to 49 percent in the runoff for Clackamas County Commissioner Position 2.

Lininger won against James Needham, a Molalla City Councilor, by a 2-to-1 ratio for Position 3.

Turnout around 6:40 this evening was at about 66 percent.

Austin, a former Estacada mayor and fisheries biologist for the Bonneville Power Administration, fell just short of winning his seat outright in the May primary, which saw a third candidate, Warren Kitchen, eliminated. Austin had been appointed to his seat in January, which did not give him much time to cement his position as an incumbent.

The race pitting Lininger against Needham initially had originally been placed on the May ballot. The subsequent discovery that County Clerk Sherry Hall erred in listing the race triggered a tense standoff and short-lived lawsuit between her office and the five commissioners.Both Austin and Savas agreed during the campaign for Position 2 that job creation is the most critical issue facing voters and share similar ideas as to how government can help the private sector.

Austin had said that as mayor of Estacada, he helped the city establish a taxing district that encouraged the creation of an industrial park that now employs approximately 150 people.

He's taken that experience to the county, which he said is embarking on several initiatives designed to spur employment. One project will use a $7.8 million federal grant to improve broadband and hence Internet access in urban and rural areas. An additional $130 million is being spent to improve an intersection at Interstate 205 and Oregon 224 and 212. The work is expected to relieve congestion and help businesses in the Sunrise industrial corridor move goods.

Savas concurred that improving transportation infrastructure is crucial for existing companies as well as luring businesses to the county. But he thinks the county has wasted time and failed to push for federal funding to improve the Sunrise corridor, beyond what is being undertaken, and planning for similar business clusters. That has put the county in last place in the metro race for job creation, he said.

Savas also thinks regional transportation goals are too focused on Portland. High-density living and more public transportation make sense for inner Portland, Savas said. But they don't fit with the more rural lifestyle in Clackamas County. As a commissioner, he would argue for more than one regional transportation model.

Lininger, who is seeking Position 3, sees county government as having the ability to create jobs and improve lives, while Needham thinks bureaucracy is stifling employment growth and commissioners are ignoring the wishes of voters.

Lininger, a project finance lawyer appointed in January to fill a vacant commission seat, said three issues most critical to the county are keeping families and seniors safe, getting people back to work and making sure the county is frugal with the public's money.

Lininger, who focuses on social services, helped create a domestic violence program that reviewed how the sheriff's office and other agencies were protecting people at risk and then developed a better response strategy. She also has overseen the county's pursuit of federal grants that could triple the density of a public housing project in Oregon City in an effort to reduce a 3,500-person waiting list of people seeking affordable housing.

Needham, who sits on Molalla's City Council, says the answer for job creation is to eliminate bureaucratic red tape. He wants to see the county declare a moratorium on development-related charges, as well as review rules and ordinances that might slow a company from expanding in or coming to Clackamas County.

As for the vulnerable groups listed by Lininger, Needham wants to see the county partner with nonprofit and faith-based organizations.

"I'm not talking about taking the government completely out of the picture, but supplementing and over a period of time making the transition from government to volunteer," he said.